Ethylene Involvement in Dormancy Release of Ricinodendron rautanenii Seeds

Ricinodendron rautanenii (manketti) seeds respond to as littleas 10^–2 µl I^–1 ethylene. Both dry and imbibedseeds respond to ethylene treatments. The length of the imbibitionperiod prior to the ethylene treatment is not important as seedswhich were simultaneously gassed and imbibed germinated successfully.Seeds were sensitive to the gas at temperatures between 25 and35 °C. No temperature effect was observed in seeds whichwere transferred from temperatures below 20 °C, or above35 °C, to 30 °C. There is no period of carbon dioxidesensitivity associated with the ethylene treatment and the effectsof the ethylene treatment persisted in both dry and imbibedseeds when subsequently maintained (desiccated) at room temperaturefor 8 d Ricinodendron rautanenii, manketti nut, ethylene, germination     

Laboratory evaluation of cyromazine against insecticide-resistant field strains of Musca domestica

A screening programme was undertaken to examine the possibility of cross resistance occurring between cyromazine and conventional insecticides. The responses of nine strains of Musca domestica to treatment with cyromazine, trichlorphon, methomyl and pyrethrins with piperonyl butoxide were measured. No tolerance to cyromazine was found, neither was there a direct correlation between larval responses to cyromazine and adult responses to other insecticides. Cyromazine is a potent larvicide against M. domestica and the results of these tests show that it has good potential for the control of houseflies with high levels of resistance to other insecticides.     

Endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Survival

ABSTRACT We investigated survival for male, female, and first-year Cape Sable seaside sparrows (Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis, hereafter sparrows), a federally endangered bird restricted to the Florida Everglades, USA. Accurate estimates of survival are critical to improve management decisions and population estimates for this and other threatened species. We used Program MARK to evaluate effects of age, sex, population membership, temporal variation, and ground-water levels on annual survival from mark-recapture data collected across 3 sparrow populations from 1997 to 2007. We found little evidence that annual survival rates differed between the populations or across ground-water levels, but we found high variability between years for both adult and juvenile survival. Our results revealed female sparrows experienced 14–19% lower survival than males. Sparrows experienced much lower survival during their first year of life and were short-lived (2–3 yr). Our results highlight sparrows' susceptibility to population declines and suggest that management actions aimed at increasing survival may be effective for this species' management.